Keeping You a Secret

Author: Julie Anne Peters

Publisher: Little, Brown & Co.
Cost:$12.21 (Hardcover)
Other Bibliographic Info.:
ISBN:0-1316-00985-7
ISBN 13:978-0-316-00985-0
Word Count: 60,892
Reading Level:3.5
Interest Level: 7-12

Plot Summary:
This book by Julie Ann Peters is about a young teenager by the name of Holland in her last semester of high school when a new girl comes to her school named Cece. Holland is intrigued. She finds herself attracted to CeCe, but none of her friends understand, especially her boyfriend.

After Holland falls for CeCe, she gets outed to the entire school and her mother kicks her out of the house. We're supposed to believe that her love for CeCe makes it all worth it, but it sure doesnt' feel that way.

Holland's mom has high hopes and expectations for Holland and when she comes out, all that changes. Holland's Mom had her own struggles with her family and you would think she would come around in the end, but she does not.

Issues for Being Challenged:Issues that might get this book challenged are issues of homosexuality,

Evaluation:

This is another great work by Julie Ann Peters. I personally thought that the book gave a realistic portrayal of what high school is like for most teens especially teens faced with the issue of homosexuality. The author does a great job in making the characters especially Holland come to life in her writing. Keeping You a Secret by Julie Anne Peterson is one young woman's coming out and what that means in her life.


Reader's Annotation:

Holland Jaeger’s mother has Holland’s life all planned out. She wants Holland to go to the perfect college, marry a perfect boy and have a perfect life. Holland has gone along with her mother’s plan all her life, student body president, wonderful boyfriend, until the day she meets Cece. Cece baffles Holland. She finds herself thinking about Cece all the time and going out of her way to see her. Cece is an out and proud lesbian and the way she makes Holland feel causes her to question everything she ever thought she was. Eventually, Holland can’t deny her feeling for Cece anymore, but when the girls decide to keep their relationship a secret, it could destroy them both.



Excerpt from the Book:

First time I saw her was in the mirror on my locker door. I'd kicked my swim gear onto the bottom shelf and was reaching to the top for my calc book when she opened her locker across the hall. She had a streaked blond ponytail dangling out the back of her baseball cap.

Great. Now I was obligated to rag on her for violating the new dress code. Forget it, I decided. My vote—the only dissenting one in the whole student council—still counted. With me, anyway. People could come to school buck naked for all I cared. It wasn't about clothes.

We slammed our lockers in unison and turned. Her eyes met mine. "Hi," she said, smiling.

My stomach fluttered. "Hi," I answered automatically. She was new. Had to be. I would've noticed her.

She sauntered away, but not before I caught a glimpse of her T-shirt. It said: IMRU?
Am I what?

She glanced back over her shoulder, the way you do when you know someone's watching. That's when it registered—the rainbow triangle below the message. My eyes dropped. Kept her in sight, though, as she disappeared around the corner.